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County receives $63,000 tire bill

By Jeremy Gaston on Sat, 12/17/2016 - 16:42

LYNDON—The Osage County Board of Commissioners discussed payment of the bills for a tire amnesty collection day held Nov. 3-5 at the Osage County Transfer Station. The collection was organized to fulfill an $8,000 fine assessed by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, levied due to improper storage of tires.

“We need to talk about the tire bill,” said Glen Tyson, road and bridge supervisor.

Tyson said the bill from Champlin Tire Recycling, Inc., Concordia, came to $63,630.

“And that’s why we’re not going to do it again,” said Fred Diver, commissioner.

“It’s expensive,” said Ken Kuykendall, commissioner. “It did a lot of good, too.”

“That’s not even counting our costs,” Diver said.

Commissioners originally planned to account for labor costs to help reach the $8,000 requirement to the state, however, the collection brought in nearly 20,000 tires, significantly beyond the requirement.

Commissioners briefly discussed payment of the bill, which would come primarily out of the county’s special levy waste disposal and federal land entitlement funds. Additional funding for the project included $2,000 from Osage County Soil Conservation District and a $7,300 rebate from Lake Region Solid Waste Authority.

Personal property software

Kim Lauffer, county appraiser, approached the council with a similar-sized bill, requesting to use department funds to purchase Orion Personal Property software. Lauffer said the program the department currently uses is from 1985, and hoped to align software for the department.

“Our personal property will run in the same format as our real estate,” Lauffer said. “It will push into Rhonda (Beets)’s program, just like our real estate pushes into tax.”

Lauffer said the program is newer, and the county would be among the first few in the state to adopt.

“We’re an early adopter so they’re going to give us more attention,” Lauffer said. “It’ll also help us keep one person in that position.”

Lauffer said the software would also work mobility, as the department moves away from desktop computers to tablet-based environments.

“We’re going more mobile,” Lauffer said. “You’ll be able to enter properties while doing field review.”

The software prices included licensing for $21,898 plus an additional $36,750 in services. Additional purchase options included public access options interfaces.

Lauffer asked to pay for the software out of remaining 2016 funds and budgeted 2017 funds. No action was taken during the meeting.

Lauffer also made budget request for $2,500 for postage and $1,200 for renewal of the departments mapping software license. She also said she wanted to submit an article to the newspaper explaining while agriculture land values are going up.

Building completion

Commissioners hosted a brief meeting with Garrett Nordstrom, Government Assistance Services, regarding the completion of the new building for Rural Water District No. 6.

The meeting served as a public hearing for the a 30 by 50-foot building to serve as a water office and storage building, with a booster pump station and chlorination room. The building allowed the district to establish a connection to a second water supply via Public Wholesale Water Supply District No. 12.

Nordstrom said the project had been complete, and was seeking commissioners approval to authorize final payment.

“All the work is complete, the business is concluded,” Nordstrom said.

Commissioners approved signing of paperwork.

In other business, the commissioners:

• approved a low bid of $17,070 for electrical upgrades to the road and bridge department shop to be installed by Theel Plumbing, Heating and Cooling, Inc., of Osage City. Tyson noted additional work to fix issues in the county’s recent inspection.

• approved purchase order 3176 to buy three new computers for the road and bridge department.